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Police agencies across Texas say they've gotten no guidance or funding from the state to implement the controversial law.

El Cenizo Police Chief Edgar Garcia chats with a Webb County Sheriff's Department sergeant as they respond to a 911 call about a suspicious person on May 11, 2017, in El Cenizo, Texas. The small town (population 3,800) has had a "safe haven" ordinance in place since 1999, and has become the first to legally challenge the Texas sanctuary cities ban. Garcia was a Dallas Police Department officer for four years.(Smiley N. Pool / Staff Photographer)

But, he said, it also can separate innocent families, which he is loath to do.

Garcia refused to join his town's lawsuit in May because of his mixed feelings. Less than a month away from the Sept. 1 implementation, he's still fretting over how his four-person, semi-volunteer department will carry out the law. It could have implications for how his community sees his officers, but also for the officers themselves, who could be punished if they run afoul of the law.

Complicating things further, the state is facing federal lawsuits that could block the law, Senate Bill 4. So police departments, especially small ones with limited resources, are holding off on spending the time and money to train their officers for a law that may never go into effect.

“I stress out about it,” Garcia said. “I would almost prefer for the lawsuit to beat SB 4 because it’ll relieve a lot of the burden off our shoulders.”

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Garcia’s dilemma mirrors that of police agencies across the state that are struggling to figure out how to implement the sanctuary cities ban. The law allows officers to ask a person about his or her immigration status during any legal detention, including a routine traffic stop. It also bans cities, counties and universities from prohibiting their officers from helping enforce immigration law.

Some departments already allow officers to ask people about their immigration status when they're detained and cooperate with federal immigration authorities. But others, mostly in major cities and communities with large Latino populations, will have to change written or informal rules that limit an officer's ability to enforce immigration law. They say the state hasn't provided guidance or funding to train officers.

Even some law enforcement agencies in favor of the ban are carefully looking over their policies to ensure they don’t unwittingly violate it. That could cost them thousands of dollars in fines and lead to the removal of their department heads.

No help from the state

Police agencies in major metro areas say they will be hit the hardest because changing their policies will mean retraining officers.

Departments like San Antonio's restrict officers from asking about immigration status. Others, like Austin, advise officers to wait until after an arrest before asking. The Travis County Sheriff's Office turns over unauthorized immigrants to federal authorities only if they have committed certain violent crimes.

Officials in those departments say the policies keep them from being wrapped into complicated immigration law and allow them to focus on the hardened criminals on their streets. They also foster trust between immigrants — a majority of whom do not commit crimes, officials say — and police departments that need their help to solve crimes.

Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo said his department will roll out training this month to protect his officers from the potential pitfalls of the law, which critics say opens them up to racial profiling complaints.

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The Houston police force will require officers to document when they ask a person about immigration status. Acevedo said that will allow the department to track how often it occurs — which he believes will be infrequent — and will create reports to defend an officer accused of racial profiling.

The Dallas Police Department also will guide and train its 3,100 officers this month. The guidance will consist of a “do's and don’ts” bulletin that every officer will have to sign and mandatory video training. It's unclear how many hours or how much money it will cost to train its officers, Maj. Reuben Ramirez said.

Houston's Acevedo said complying with the law will cost departments in other ways.

“The cost in terms of the public trust of our community, that’s already starting to manifest itself in a significant reduction of reporting of crime by the Hispanic community,” he said. “There’s an absolute sentiment of fear.”

For smaller agencies, the costs are tangible and more pronounced.

“I only have a very limited number of deputies ... and I can’t afford to risk my security situation here ... because we’re going to do immigration work,” said Maverick County Sheriff Tom Schmerber, who is suing the state to stop the law.

Schmerber has fewer than 30 deputies, and he said taking them off the street to train them to comply with the law would put residents at risk.

Adding to his woes, Schmerber said, the state is not providing any funds or guidance on how to implement the law. But if his deputies get sued for racial profiling while carrying it out, the county will have to foot the bill with no help from the state, he said.

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“There’s no type of training, no type of anything,” Schmerber said.

“It’s like throwing you into the cage with a lion with no knife and just saying, ‘Do the best you can.’ They gave us nothing.”

‘What we’ve always done’

Supporters of the ban argue that implementing it won't take a major overhaul. Most police agencies in the state already allow their officers to ask about immigration status and cooperate with federal authorities. The law is meant only for the few jurisdictions that have opted not to cooperate, they say.

“They don’t need to make any preparations,” said Kevin Lawrence, executive director of the Texas Municipal Police Association, a 2,500-member group that supports the ban. “It doesn’t change what law enforcement is doing. It simply targets the policies at the local level that are handcuffing local officers.”

But even some departments that support the ban are being cautious about its implementation.

A spokesman for the Elsa Police Department, whose police chief signed on to an op-ed article that Gov. Greg Abbott wrote in defense of the law, declined to comment, saying the agency in the town near McAllen is still reviewing its policies to ensure that it doesn't violate the law.

Proponents of the law say it is meant to ensure public safety. If local agencies don’t turn over unauthorized immigrants who have committed crimes to federal authorities, they say, those people could be released and commit more serious crimes.

Richard Ozuna, police chief in the border town of Sullivan City, said allowing his officers to ask about immigration status helps combat issues that are prevalent along the Rio Grande, such as human and drug trafficking.

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“We’re not doing anything different than what we’ve always done,” Ozuna said.

Ozuna, who supports the law, said departments in small border towns like his won't have trouble enforcing the ban and don't have the same concerns as those in major cities that have different policing challenges.

"It all depends on where you live," Ozuna said. "Every place has different issues."

James Barragán. James Barragán covers Texas politics for The Dallas Morning News. He has covered immigration, public safety and voting rights and has traveled on assignment to the U.S. Supreme Court and Houston during Hurricane Harvey. Before joining The News in 2017, he worked for the Austin American-Statesman and The Los Angeles Times.